


Planes 101

by Bobblychicken



Category: Cars (Pixar Movies), Planes (Movies)
Genre: Aircraft, Fanfiction, Living Machines, living aircraft, living airplanes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-01-25 23:24:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21364384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bobblychicken/pseuds/Bobblychicken
Summary: Your very own textbook of the morphology of the aircraft of the World of Cars! Or at least my headcanon for it. Topics range from basic make-up, to behavior, and to some of my more "out there" aspects of plane morphology.
Comments: 175
Kudos: 24





	1. Basic Morphology

So let's start with the basics. The make-up of the machine-folk in my canon is that of colonies of trillions upon trillions of different nano-machines that all perform different jobs, all linked and working together to make one big machine, just like the cells in our own bodies. Different nano-machines make up different parts of the machines' bodies, such as their plating and internal spars, their internal organs, and their engines, giving them their organoid qualities. All these properties allow the machines to be able to withstand higher stresses and G-Forces than their non-living counterparts, as well as give them a certain small degree of flexibility.

Where organic creatures have eleven organ systems, the various vehicles that you see only really have five. Main systems are drive, engine, hydraulics, electronics (which is what passes for their nervous system), and reproductive. Other equivalent systems are present, but they are either very rudimentary or else are integrated into one of the main systems as to not qualify as a prominent organ system by itself. Examples of these are the respiratory system, which is combined with the engine system, and the digestive and endocrine systems which are both integrated into each other, and also partially with the engine/respiratory system.  
  
To highlight the digestive system in particular, the machine folk can either have straight fuel and other such fluids added directly for expedience and convenience, or they can go arguably the more satisfying route and just eat or drink them. So they can and do eat food, and just about anything they consume gets boiled down through chemical and microbial process into a usable fuel, which is then burned off as carbon monoxide and goes out with their exhausts with the respiratory system, just how like when we exhale we're releasing carbon dioxide. That being said, as humans also exist in my canon (how they got there is a story unto itself), they can, and do on occasion try “people food” just to try it, but a lot of human food tends to leave residue behind and can make them sick and even lead to them having to have their entire systems flushed out if they eat too much of it.

As far as what kind of metabolism these creatures have, it varies depending on the age of the individual. While there are actually quite a few similarities in how the machines “age” compared to us, there are also a few key differences. Vehicles grow and mature at somewhat faster rates than humans, and therefore have very fast, active metabolisms, but once fully matured, things level out, with the machine-folk gaining the ability to internally adjust their metabolisms at will to fit their current activity levels, and so will tend to hold their vitality and ability to reproduce well into “old age”. The machines only really start feeling their age in the last few years of their life, and they feel it hard, as if all the years gone by have finally come crashing down on them.

Still, their life span can easily surpass that of humans by half again, sometimes even more. However, just like with human beings, how well they take care of themselves greatly influences how long they’ll live. There are other peculiarities in the biology of the machines, that with such adjustable metabolisms means very active immune systems and “cell turnover” if you will. Meaning that any part that gets replaced or modified will be assimilated by the surrounding parts into their workings to the point where testing reveals that it's as if the new part had always been a part of them. They can even heal themselves to a certain degree. This ability also accounts for their longevity, however there is a catch. This aspect of their morphology is extremely taxing, depending on what or how much is being replaced, and their bodies only have so much capacity to keep assimilating new parts. Eventually it can get to the point where modifications, replacements and even repairs will start to fail and a complete gradual breakdown begins to occur that once started cannot be stopped, only staved off for a while. This leaves most machines to being hyper-vigilant and can make them seem almost timid despite their resilience, but the machine-folk have developed different senses with which they use to keep better awareness of their surroundings, which we'll go over in the next chapter.


	2. Senses

In today's lesson we'll be going over different machine senses. We will be focusing on aircraft for this since they are the main players in most of my fanfics. In order of importance, the five senses of aircraft are as follows:

**Sight -**

It was already stated in Thunder Only Happens When It's Raining that aircraft possess a second, independently-moving lens behind each eye which you can see the shadows of the iris and pupil with it if you shine a light into them. Now, where humans have special muscles in their eyes that change the shape of the lens, all vehicles will have a second set of “muscles” that can change the very shape of the cornea, thus giving them a greater range of accommodation than humans would have. The flatter shapes of vehicular eyes also allow for more of their visual field to be in focus at a time. Aircraft take things a bit further in that having two lenses in each eye causes the primary lens to be pushed farther forward, which increases the size of the image as it's filtered through both lenses, allowing for the increased ability to visualize detail and discern textures, even from great distances. Additionally, both aircraft and watercraft have a certain type of receptor in their eyes that further improves their distance vision in hazy or other such adverse weather conditions, and also have adaptions that allow them to visualize the movement of the sun and constellations in the night sky, something that is imperceptible to humans. Some aircraft even possess an analog to the Tapetum lucidum, and can see in the dark, and there are still others that can see infrared.

**Smell -**

While perhaps not on the same level as say, a Bloodhound, their sense of smell is far more sensitive than a human’s. Again, most of their power of smell is focused on what you would imagine to be important to aircraft, such as atmospheric conditions (they can smell rain, lightning, etc, far before a storm is sighted), and are especially sensitive toward pheromones; they can pretty much smell what kind of a mood that another aircraft is in, if they've recently mated, and even such things like if they've had a stomach ache. Fun fact: for some odd reason male aircraft tend to become agitated around human women during their monthly cycles, something that has had scientists, human and machine alike, scratching their heads for quite some time now, as it is a very odd reaction from a creature that is not only so biologically different from us, but whose own females don't even have such cycles in fertility.

**Hearing-**

In my canon, as with all vehicles, the little side windows just behind their eyes are their ears; you’re pretty much looking at their analog for the tympanic membrane (ear drum), as in how reptiles and amphibians will have their tympanic membranes set very far forward in the ear. That being said, they probably wouldn’t appreciate those windows being tapped! Their sensitivity is lower than ours, but they can hear over a wider range of frequencies than we can. Their hearing is more geared toward pitch, tone, and rhythm changes, as well as being able to detect infrasound and even ultrasound (neither of which humans can hear), with which they utilize, along with being able to sense the Earth's magnetic field, to navigate and sense what might be out ahead.

**Touch -**

Touch isn’t exactly a strong point when it comes to aircraft senses. They can feel of course, when they might accidentally bump into something while on the ground, and if it were hard or soft, and they can feel when we or another machine touches them and that it feels good, but they glean no more information than that. Not like we can with the tips of our fingers. They can sense a little more with their nose cones and especially their mouths, including their teeth, which is why aircraft can often be seen nosing or mouthing something that they are unfamiliar with. The teeth of aircraft are straight in the front to facilitate speech, but turn sharp, pointed, and peg-like toward the back of the jaws, starting at where the canine teeth would be, and interlock together when the jaws are closed. The pointed teeth are not designed for chewing, but for defense. Despite their incredible jaw power (a plane Dusty's size, for example, can bite down with a force of ten-thousand pounds), they can be very gentle and delicate with their jaws. Their tongues are very dexterous, and can stretch, contract, and flatten with ease. Their prop-blades and bellies, along with the control surfaces are some of the most sensitive parts of an aircraft, but are considered intimate spaces, and are usually not used outside of interaction between Bonded Companions or Pairs.

**Taste -**

An aircraft’s sense of taste is also a bit weak compared to ours. They neither possess the amount nor as many of the different types taste buds that humans have. While some may have more refined palates, most have no appreciation for subtle flavors. Whereas they can enjoy something like a cup of tea, but don’t always taste it, they are more likely to be drawn to things that are salty or sweet.

**Other Senses - **

Aircraft also possess an extra sense. All machine-folk have electrical ampullae covering over various parts of their plating, the majority of an aircraft's being more concentrated back toward the tail. This means that they can sense if another aircraft is coming up behind them, and are able to adjust their courses accordingly. These same ampullae are also extremely sensitive to changes in pressure, effectively giving them the ability to “predict” the weather if you will, using it to detect storms so that they again have ample time to alter their course.


	3. Body Language

All aircraft are naturally very social creatures. Being what they are, it's a very rare thing that you'll ever go into a city or town that has only one or even two aircraft living in it. While aircraft are of course friendly toward other vehicles, Soul activity aside (we'll be going over that at another time), they live such different lives and have different needs and priorities, and therefore simply cannot replace the kind of social stimulation that other aircraft can provide. Aircraft NEED other aircraft, and are happiest and healthiest living in places where there are lots of their own kind. This social nature leads them to be very physically affectionate creatures with a wide variety of different posturing to denote their moods and intentions.

Body language among aircraft can range from more passive, unconscious gestures that you'll see between any aircraft in social situations to deliberate, formal actions that occur more often among Bonded Companions/Pairs or courting individuals. Since we'll be covering the latter at a later time, we'll just be going over general body language.

Submissive/appeasement gestures are nose tilted down. There are varying degrees of this and meanings depending on the context and how far the nose dips below mid/neutral level. A plane that drops it's nose low with control surfaces lowered is submission, kind of "Don't hurt me." Dipping the nose down just a bit with control surfaces in the neutral position is respectful acknowledgement, "I recognize your strength/authority", and a lowered nose with control surfaces raised is a gesture meant to diffuse, "I won't hurt you." A lowered nose can also indicate unease, an unwillingness to communicate or need to rest (kind of a version of “go away and leave me alone”), or affront. Dropping the nose and then quickly bringing it back up is a beckoning gesture. It can also be taken to mean “come play with me!”, especially if it is accompanied by a bow.

And of course raising the nose above the relaxed angle is normally an indicator of aggression, although at times it can also be representative of stark curiosity. An avoidant aircraft might rear its nose up and tilt at an odd angle while simultaneously backing away. This is sort of a dominant type of submissive body language, kind of like saying “I don’t want to fight, but I’ll let you have it if you keep pressing your luck.”

On that same note, two planes will often size each other up by lining up side by side, facing opposite directions, where they will lean down and tilt, showing their backs to one another, the posture saying, “Look how big and strong I am; you don't want to mess with me!” However, between courting individuals the display can be taken to mean, “Look how big and strong I am; aren't I sexy?” A plane may also tilt back, raising their control surfaces and their nose while simultaneously lowering down in their landing gear before bowing down, lowering their control surfaces, and raising their tails, a highly suggestive gesture among aircraft that needs little explanation.

Their control surfaces (flaps, ailerons, elevators, etc) also play a big part in body language but pretty much have the same sort of consonance as the position of the nose. Raised control surfaces are of course indicators of excitement, shock or a sudden scare, or offensive aggression, while lowered control surfaces represent fear, unease, or defensive aggression.

Any of the aforementioned behaviors can often be accompanied by different engine noise, which we will be covering in the next installment.


	4. Engine Noise/Vocalizations

An aircraft's respiratory system, like all the machines, is integrated into the engine system, and so they are able to make a variety of different vocalizations. Most if not all of these sounds are made while the mouth is closed, and will sometimes have varying degrees of vocal input layered into the engine noise. These are less a form of actual communication than they are simply reactions to certain stimuli, although they can still be great indicators of mood, intention, and sentiment.

Engine noise will differ depending on the type of engine involved and their age. As you can imagine, very young aircraft are rather limited on what sounds they can make due to their still developing engines. A lot of their vocalizations are simple chirps and clicks, or trilling whistles. The chirping is quite high-pitched, and is made in response to a wide variety of situations, and sometimes seems to just be made spontaneously, so it’s difficult to say whether these noises are actual attempts at communication with the parents or litter-mates, or just simple curiosity and experimentation on the part of the infant aircraft. The whistles they make are also high-pitched, and short and trilling, a bit like a slightly toned-down police whistle, and are a common response to being exposed to something new, and is the same regardless of the actual reaction being positive or negative. When an infant aircraft finds themselves alone, and they can't find their litter mates or parents, they'll emit contact calls, loud, longer chirps in succession that when heard by the litter mates will instinctively compel them to chirp back in response until they find each other again. They’ll squeak when alarmed, and will squeal if their distress escalates. Such a noise will instinctively move even unfamiliar female aircraft into responsiveness, and even males will often become alert, even if they haven’t fathered any litters.

All noises made in infancy will be lost as the aircraft ages and the engine fully develops. Vocalizations on the more positive spectrum of engine noise include fluttering, chuffing, and purring. Many humans might get fluttering and chuffing confused, especially considering that both are pretty much used in the same context, but they are different sounds. Fluttering is pretty self explanatory, being softer, quick, and with a lot of air behind it. Chuffing is basically a more broken, lower and slower version of fluttering. Aircraft will flutter and chuff during pleasant social situations, such as greetings and sparring, and also will sometimes emit them spontaneously, however, a harsher fluttering and blowing (when aircraft will simply exhale forcefully through their exhausts with little engine input) can denote stress, nervousness, or frustration, and they will also chuff when surprised or startled, or when exhausted or ill. Purring of course is made when aircraft are content and happy. It is a social noise meant to be heard while they are in close quarters with others, as it is generally not able to be heard over long distances, and is often heard between a mother and her babies.

More antagonistic or negative engine noise includes growling and snarling, hissing (jets more than piston-powered aircraft), snorting, and revving and moaning. Again, some of these are generalizations. Certain low, rumbling growls are also often emitted in pleasant social situations, especially during more intimate moments. Engine revving are generally considered aggressive sounds, although it can also often be heard during sparring/play. Then there's the barking rev, a sort of short, half-rev that again can be either instigative for aggression or play, depending on the context. Moaning is basically a low, drawn out, strained rev, and is usually made in tense situations or under extreme mental or physical anguish. Then of course, their engines can emit a full roar, one of the few vocalizations made with the mouth open, and a sound that needs no real interpretation.

Hissing is usually done as a threat, and can also be reflective of anxiety or escalating anger. It is more commonly heard from jets rather than piston aircraft, although Ripslinger in particular can make a variety of hisses, including his infamous “hiss-snarl”. Most piston-powered aircraft can actually hiss, but not with the power behind the kind that Ripslinger can make. It’s actually been looked into, as his mechanics had feared that it was a symptom of some underlying problem with his engine, but as far as they can tell, they can find no cause as to how exactly he’s able to do it.

While jets can purr, growl, and roar, just like piston-powered aircraft, their versions of those sounds are very different from their counterparts. Most vocalizations from jets are shrill and fierce, and a lot of their noises sound almost sound electronic in nature, especially among fighting stock. Even their happy noises still sound scary and threatening to a human! Their version of a growl is low and slightly electronic, but, depending on the inflection and rhythm, it can be reflective of contentment or anger. Rumbling has the same consonance as piston aircraft, also generally made as a sign of contentment but is also often emitted before and after intimacy. Other sounds that jets can make are beeps, whirring, low electronic-sounding grinding, and creaking clicks that start out as sort of an electronic hum that turns into a steadily slowing, stuttering groan.

As for helicopters, they are rather quiet creatures. They do in fact purr, and they rumble, hiss, and chuff. They don't make any especially loud noises, like roaring, but they do make a sort of low, raspy chirping, two or three in succession, as a warning "don't mess with me" sound.

Engine noise denoting fear or apprehension are high, sort of trilling squeals and whines. Dusty can often be heard making such noises in the face of thunderstorms or aggravation and annoyance, and, being a turbo-prop, he can make a lot of the same types of vocalizations that jets do, except most of his versions of them are much more toned down and softer, and less grating on human ears. The most prominent of these sounds is a sort of chuttering noise, like a stuttering trill, almost dolphin-ish except lower in pitch with varying inflection. A loud chuttering is usually an expression of excitement, and a slightly lower, quieter chuttering is usually made as a reflection of interest or curiosity, and sometimes nervousness. Dusty's engine is not big enough to be able to make a full roar, sounding more like a thick, low-pitched, hissing shriek, although most people who know him don't think that he has it in him to roar. So he can also hiss like jets can, but, again, to everyone’s memory has never made such a sound. Other sounds that Dusty can emit are whistles, clicks, low-pitched chirps, and low or high-pitched squeals.


	5. Reproduction

Yep. That's right. Welcome to Sex Ed for planes! The whole process is quite intricate, taking much longer than human beings, so sit back and get comfortable; this will probably be our longest lesson!

To start, aircraft mature at different rates depending on their gender. While both sexes typically will not start flying until around fifteen or sixteen years of age, females become sexually mature quite early, between the ages of nine and eleven, reaching full maturity at sixteen and seventeen years of age at which they will typically start mating. Males take much longer to mature, reaching sexual maturity at the same time that they begin flying, but again, will not start mating until they reach their early twenties. This is mostly because female aircraft tend to prefer mating with males that are older, and male aircraft are not fully mature until they are around twenty-four years of age.

At the beginning of their reproductive lives, aircraft are quite promiscuous, as it is their Souls that dictate who their Bond-Mates will be (we will be going over what that means in a separate chapter). The more encounters they set themselves up for, the more likely they are to find their Bond-Mates, and females are equally as forward in their solicitation as males are, depending on where each may be in their lives. Once they've found their Bond-Mates, from that moment on the Bonding process has started, and once started, it can't be stopped. At best it can be delayed for a while if one or both partners decides that it's not the right time, but both will become strictly monogamous upon finding each other. Now, even though this chapter is about reproduction, none of this is to say that there is no such thing as same-sex Bonded Pairs.

To elaborate, machine-folk do not see gender as we do. Think of them as you would see them in real life. Not a lot of variation, everyone all the same inside and out. Same basic parts, same horsepower, same aptitude and ability. It's much the same for living machines, and where you might still have males and females and they reproduce the same way as organic creatures in our universe, sexual dimorphism is very subtle in most models. If a human were looking at a big group of living machines that were all the same make and model, they would likely have a difficult time telling males and females apart, and in some models the two sexes are practically indistinguishable. The reproductive orifices of males and females are nearly identical (apart from the obvious differences in what's inside), so having sex with one isn't going to be much different than having sex with the other, so naturally gender isn't going to mean very much to them, and while they themselves wouldn't have a label for it, a human would consider all machines as being pansexual, if you will.

On another, but somewhat similar note, Bonded Pairs are not limited to same-model couples either. Hybridization can and does occur as well, but not without complications. Hybrid aircraft happen much more easily among models of the same or similar make, but the further apart you get, the more problems a couple will have trying to conceive. Children born to these Pairs are at risk for congenital defects and may themselves have problems with fertility later in life. For radically different parents, the complications may be severe. If fertilization occurs at all, miscarriages are common, and in the rare case that they may be carried to term, they usually don't live longer than a few days.

Now, back to the actual subject at hand. Sexual activity between aircraft starts with a lot of heavy body contact and foreplay before actual intercourse occurs. When a plane is ready, they will crouch down in their landing gear, lift their tail up, and tilt slightly to the side. The male sidles up to their left side behind their wing, heaves himself over, covering them, and lines himself up for entrance. In the case of rotorcraft, if they have wheels, the male gently turns their partner on their side and then mounts them. However, helicopters with skids are limited to foreplay while on the ground. Actual mating occurs in the air, and so is reserved for when two helicopters take their Nuptial Flight.

Female aircraft, in my canon, are what's known as “induced ovulators”, meaning that they do not have regular cycles where they ovulate at a set time, but will only ovulate through a certain amount of stimulation such as being brought to orgasm and the presence of semen in the reproductive cavity, but the main mechanism through which proper stimulation is accomplished is something called a “copulatory idle”.

The penile organ of male aircraft are segmented metal surrounding a softer rubbery core through which semen is conveyed, and are adorned with firm, sort of rubbery bumps, called nodes. It is stored in a forward compartment in the fuselage, and when deployed is pulled back into the tail, then pushed forward again, down and out of a slit of firm, rubbery tissue of the same type as the nodes and the inner core of the phallus. In the case of sexual activity between two males, it will stay back in the tail to facilitate the length of the other male's phallus in the forward part of the reproductive compartment. The ventral access panel that protects this orifice, as well as the female's, is located on the underside of the plane, about halfway between the wings and tail, and will split apart and slide back during foreplay and intercourse.

The size, shape, and location of the nodes on the phallus is specific to the individual's model, but tend to have groupings of smaller ones near the tip, and will always have a pair of larger ones on either side of the base. A deep, low-frequency rumbling emitted from the male's engine during the act of mating on the ground sends vibrations which travel from the engine to the phallus, where they are picked up by the nodes and amplified. This is the copulatory idle, and the he sound is so loud and at such a low frequency it can be heard and felt from a fair distance. It is guaranteed to throw the female into orgasm and ovulation, as well as put any males that may happen to be in close enough vicinity into a state of high arousal. This idle can take practice to execute properly, with younger males having more trouble getting it right, sometimes producing the noise at random if the male is overstimulated. Only the older, more practiced males will have full control over when it happens, which is why females tend to prefer mating with older males. How many eggs she “drops” is entirely dependent on the amount of different stimulation provided by the male, in short, his skill as a lover. This essentially means that female aircraft can become pregnant at any time, which fits in better with the fact that the Bonding process is very long and can even take years to complete, and it all culminates down to the final act, the Nuptial Flight.

The reproductive tracts of females are long and a bit complicated. They need gravity to sort of pull the semen where it needs to go in order for implantation to occur, and that's where the Nuptial Flight comes in. The Nuptial Flight, and therefor pregnancy, is the result of the conclusion of the Bonding process. Once the time is right, the two aircraft will take off. Once airborne, they will perform an inside loop, gaining as much altitude as they can before coming together at the crest. Once over the top, they'll connect belly-to-belly, the male locking himself in, and they're mating as they're diving in a graceful, controlled, slow tailspin. It's a horribly dangerous act, and serves as a final test of trust and skill, but despite being over with fairly quickly, it's also simply one of the most exhilarating, euphoric events in an aircraft’s life, and marks those two individuals as a Bonded Pair. As beautiful as such a spectacle would be, Bonding is considered an especially sacred and private aspect of an aircraft’s life, and a Pair will usually withdraw completely from society in the last stages of it, either to the wilds, or special designated retreats for the purpose (the male picks the place) until their Bond as a Pair is solidified.

And so now here we are at the moment of implantation. Implantation does not necessarily occur right away. Female aircraft have a special holding tank for semen further back in the tail, and so have the ability to delay implantation to ensure that young will be born into good conditions, and furthermore also are able to internally terminate a pregnancy up until a certain point in the case of some calamity or other such circumstance, and resorb the developing young back into the workings of their bodies. These abilities are considered by the aircraft to be a great gift bestowed upon them that no aircraft should be born unwanted. Now, in the case that implantation does occur, it's a long road ahead for mom.

So despite the popular comparison to birds, the aircraft in my canon are all live-bearers. Gestation length generally varies depending the size of the aircraft; 10 - 11 months for lighter aircraft all the way up to nearly two years for the largest aircraft. Fun fact! There’s actually sort of a joke saying among OB-GYNs for P-51 Mustangs in particular that arrival should be expected 13 months to the day due to there being almost no variation in gestation length for that model. However, like birds, they commonly give birth to multiples, which is why most aircraft will only produce one litter in their lives; they kind of have their children all at once! That being said, aircraft, like all machine-folk, can be very long lived, and retain their virility well into “old age”, and so of course there are a few that will go for second litters.

Litter sizes are extremely variable among the different models/species. Generally you’ll see bigger litters for smaller aircraft and smaller litters for large aircraft, but you’ll still have a lot of variation in between, so it’s not exactly a reliable rule of thumb. For example, planes of Dusty’s size and type generally can have between three to five in a litter. Then you have Mustangs, like Ripslinger, where three is considered a large litter with four being the maximum, but on the other hand you have Corsairs, like Skipper, who’s litter size is comparable with light aircraft, with the addition that litters of 6 or 7 not exactly being uncommon despite being roughly the same size as the Mustangs. Smaller jets tend to have large litters, between six and eight, although they can have up to ten. Fighter jets are famed for their large litters, with the record being 17 jetlings. Very large aircraft tend to only have one or sometimes two. With aircraft such as helicopters, variation on gestation and litter size is pretty static. Gestation will take between 16 and 17 months and they will generally give birth to only two offspring at the maximum, no matter the model/species.

Actual gestation in aircraft is pretty mild compared to what some human females will experience. The only really hard part about it being just how long they've got to lug all that extra weight around squishing up all their innards, so who's to say who really has it worse? Early on in gestation, behavioral changes are pretty mild and females may become a bit more clingy or anxious, or adversely some moms-to-be may want their space. Many mothers will experience a drop in appetite and may even become reluctant to eat anything at all, as well as having some symptoms of nausea, although outright vomiting isn’t common. Most of their time will be spent resting or sleeping. After the first few months of gestation are over with, the female will appear to normalize and symptoms will subside, although you will see a marked increase in their appetite. Most pregnancies will not show until quite late in gestation, and even then there will only be a slight bulging in their bellies and flanks. At this point all the symptoms from early on in the pregnancy will return, and the female will refrain from flying until the babies are born, mainly because she's too heavy to get airborne at this point. A few weeks before the young are due, the production of a special kind of milk will occur. At the end of gestation the female will experience a sudden slight drop in temperature, a sure sign that labor is imminent. Around 12 to 24 hours later, she will go into labor, with the process lasting for as little as 3 hours to up to 12 hours depending on the size of the litter, with some unlucky moms taking up to 24 hours for all the young to be born. The babies will usually be born 20 to 30 minutes apart, although some moms, jets in particular are famous for this, will take breaks right in the middle of labor where all contractions will suddenly stop for up to 2 hours before the next baby is born.

The young are born nose-first, and drab in primer. They will not get their first coat of paint for a few weeks. Born without propeller blades, they come out very soft; you could take your hand and squeeze or press on them, and with their wings folded up against their bodies. Within about an hour, the wings unfurl as fluid is pumped into their hydraulic lines, and the body eventually hardens to that of softer plastic. Their frames will not fully harden until they reach full maturity, but their propeller blades will begin to come in earlier, around the onset of puberty. Aircraft are semi-precocial, meaning that they are born with their eyes open, but their ability to move around is limited due to their soft frames. They mostly just scoot around until their landing gear begins to harden after a few weeks. They are also born with a full set of teeth. Tiny little deciduous teeth that fall out and are replaced by true baby teeth after about two years, which again will fall out and be replaced by the adult teeth when they start to go through puberty.

Another distinctly un-bird-like thing that aircraft do is that they nurse their young. When female aircraft become pregnant for the first time at the conclusion of the Bonding process, hormonal triggers will begin to change and rearrange her internal make-up. Things will move around a bit, and new components will start developing, such as special tanks with nozzles that exit when stimulated just in front of the ventral access panel, the amount of which depending on the model, that produce a sort of “milk”. These things are permanent, and do not go away after the litter is weaned, whether or not they produce an additional litter later down the road after the current babies have reached adulthood. The milk that comes out is kind of a far-cry from any milk that we’re used to seeing, the liquid being white, yes, but with a slight grayish tint to it, and a bit thinner and with sort of an oily consistency. For the first few days home, the babies will not nurse right away, nor do they need to, being born with a reserve tank that shrinks and eventually goes away in the few days, during which they mostly just sleep. You have to imagine it's got to be pretty tough being born! After that short period is over, however, the babies will start nursing in earnest, and will need to be fed every two to four hours. It might not look all that nutritious or even appetizing to us, but the babies grow quite fast on it, especially the offspring of larger aircraft, and should be fully weaned by the time they turn two years old.

As you can see, baby aircraft are quite the investment! But apparently well worth it as aircraft tend to make most attentive, loving, and sometimes fearsome parents! Fathers go through their own hormonal changes at the birth of their offspring as they transition over into “dad-mode”. The mother's scent changing as she goes through the pregnancy will start to trigger these changes, and will peak the first time he hears his babies chirp. Fathers can become fiercely protective, especially with their daughters, who they become strongly bonded to, just as sons tend to bond strongly with their mothers. And it all leads up to the proud day when the young are big enough and their engines are strong enough to turn over for the first time, and soon make their first flight as a family.


	6. Souls

Another slightly long lesson this time, and let me just say, this one's a real doozy! And probably my most hated headcanon for living machine lore, but here's to hoping you guys enjoy. Let's first start by saying, yes, aircraft have Souls. However, they are not the same sort of “souls” as a human being would think of a soul.

Light, whether visible or otherwise, is basically a form of energy right? It can put off light, warmth, radiation. It can make things move, it can heal, it can cut, it can make things grow. It gives. It never takes away. That's basically what the Soul's of machines are, of course to varying degrees depending on the type of machine they belong to. They are all light, and emotion, and energy. Tremendous energy. Basically like a disembodied essence of will. Where the suspicion comes from that they are not of this world, perhaps not even of this plane of reality, is that they are so foreign, so pure and ethereal a thing, that they cannot survive outside their respective vessels. They immediately become polluted and die once exposed to the outside air.

Machines' Souls are very peculiar things. They are very poorly understood. Even those few that have an inkling that something extra is there, are unable to explain it, or how it does all of the things that it does. It is not _meant _to be explained or understood. It simply _is_, and hence why it is referred to as a “Soul”. Now, the Soul does not give the vehicles their sentience, that's all them. While it is their life source, like a battery, it is not exactly connected to the individual, or “host”, possessing its own rudimentary sentience.

All the machine-folk have Souls, there’s just differing degrees in what kind of activity you might experience depending on the machine class. This activity can only be felt from others of their kind; to sense the activity of the Soul of an aircraft or a boat, you also must possess the Soul of an aircraft or a boat. There are the Seers, a class of rare, devout human that are able to sense the behavior of machine Soul's. All human children have this ability, but loose it as they age. Only a special few retain it into adulthood. Those that can “see” the activity of the Soul are called “Seers”, those that can hear it are called “Listeners”, and those those that can do both are called “Knowers”, and Knowers are ultra-rare.

Aircraft have the highest functioning Souls where the entity and the host are equally as dependent on one another for a great many things. They are like two sides of the same coin, to try to put it simply; both an “I” and a “we” simultaneously. Watercraft also have high-functioning Souls, but not quite to the level of aircraft, plus the Souls of boats and the like behave differently, hence the difference in the way watercraft Bond and interact with one another. In terrestrial vehicles, however, the Soul is almost vestigial, showing little to no activity at all apart from serving as that vehicle’s life-force. There is, however, the rare terrestrial vehicle that possesses a higher-functioning Soul that can sense the activity of other machines' Souls. These individuals are called “Delta Machines”, and the ability is most common in Pitties.

In aircraft, the Soul is the single most important aspect of their biology. They fly with it. They sing with it. They find their true loves with it. The Soul flows within a protective path that winds in a closed loop throughout the frame of an aircraft in a specific pattern that is unique to that individual. No two Soul patterns are alike, and it criss-crosses through itself in various spots in the fuselage. These junctions are what passes for weak points in the Soul, as they are the only spots where the Soul can be affected or damaged through physical means.

Soul's are integral for proper social interaction and relationships between aircraft. Aircraft in close enough quarters can sense the activity of one anothers Souls, and an aircraft's Soul can tell a lot about that individual. The health of the Soul is affected by the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of the host, and therefore is an indicator of that aircraft's state of self. Furthermore, the hosts being mostly unaware, those Souls will also be communicating with each other, having carrying enough of their own sentience to have social needs of their own, and are a huge component of Bonded Companionships and Pairs. Aircraft in close, trusted relationships will form Bonded Companionships through their Souls, and can even link their Souls together, feeling each other's feelings. Bonded Pairs take that aspect even further, with the two Souls slowly fusing together completely into one new Soul at the conclusion of the Bonding process, a piece of which residing in each partner. We'll be going more into depth on Bonded Companions/Pairs in the next installment.

Another important aspect of aircraft life that Souls come into play is singing. Aircraft love to sing, and all aircraft are born having distinct, but rather gorgeous singing voices in one way or another. However, as a human, you're only hearing about half of what there actually is to hear. When aircraft “sing”, it is one of the few times where the aircraft and it's Soul are acting completely in unison, functioning as one being as opposed to the default functioning as both an “I” and a “we” simultaneously. Just as when in flight, while singing, the aircraft and it's Soul are one, the action essentially being the Soul taking the will and intention of it's host and weaving it into sound and then throwing it out to communicate to others of their kind as the aircraft sings. It helps them find their Bond-Mates, and is a common thing among Bonded Pairs or courting individuals as they sing with and to each other, and when mothers will sing over their babies while they sleep. And of course, sometimes they just do it for the sake of it.

There are two different levels of it, and the “sound” will be different depending on the state of that individual's Soul. Generally, the Soul will simply play off of the vocals of it's host, beaming out in sort of an echoing effect, or conversely the Soul will “sing” with the host, where it's own input will be interlaced with the vocals of the host. It's an eerie sound, high-pitched and lilting, somewhat like whale-song, the notes rising and falling, gaining and shuddering like wind through a cave. There are also times where the Soul's themselves will sing on their own, to call or communicate with other Souls.

That being said, aircraft Souls don't only communicate with other Souls. They do have the ability to communicate with their own hosts as well, although it is rather limited. The Soul is not eternal. At least not in the sense that it is impervious to harm. Damage can be caused by physical means, as mentioned earlier, but the most commonly seen cause of damage is non-physical, such as extreme mental anguish or trauma, as physical damage that is severe enough to be able to damage the Soul's flow-path is, more often than not, fatal. The Soul is aware of this and does carry a definite sense of self-preservation. Aircraft who find themselves in a potentially dangerous situation will feel a certain innate tetter that most humans feeling the same thing would pass off as a gut-feeling or instinct, when it is in fact the aircraft's Soul attempting to give warning to the host in an attempt to protect itself. In very desperate circumstances, the Soul can even usurp control from the host, an extremely rare occurrence.

The Soul does also have the ability to heal itself over time, depending on the cause and severity. However, how long it takes under the best of circumstances is entirely depending on the individual. A Soul must complete it's cycle through it's flow-path. Damage to the Soul's flow-path can result in a dampening in those aspects of aircraft life as described above as the Soul attempts to push through the damaged areas. Large breaches in the flow-path can cause huge problems as the Soul bulldozes through however violently and painfully it needs to to complete its circuit, and the aircraft will basically stop functioning until it's Soul is able to cross over the gap, the Soul leaking and becoming weaker with each pass. A Soul that eventually succumbs to such damage or else if it is broken completely results in the death of the aircraft, however, if an aircraft were to die naturally, the individual and their Soul's consciousness become one and the aircraft is allowed to continue on and transcend to join their brethren in an eternal sky of boundless flight, leaving the shell of their vessel behind.


	7. Bonded Companionships and Bonded Pairs

Well folks here we are; the last lesson in our Planes 101 series!

To start, Bonded Companionships are essentially deep, life-long friendships forged at the linkage of the “Souls” of planes and other aircraft. The most common form of Bonded Companions that you’ll see are between two males, a young male and an older male, the common dynamic being the older male taking the younger one under their wing in a sort of mentorship, with the young male gaining guidance either through observation or by asking for advice outright on various aspects of life for male aircraft. Most males will have had this type of relationship at some point in their lives, and the benefits of such relationships are felt not just by the younger male but those of his friends, sexual partners and later their Bond Mates and even their children. These are very special and important bonds, as the knowledge of the older male will be passed from generation to generation.

Now, this isn’t to say that Bonded Companionships are restricted to just males or to aircraft of the same sex (there are plenty of instances of male-female Companionships) or even just to two individuals. It’s not common, but there have been instances of three or even more within the same Companionship (Rochelle in particular is actually part of a female quartet!), and it’s just as well, for aircraft in a Bonded Companionship will experience a strengthening of their Souls, each Soul involved communicating and shoring up weaknesses where they might have strengths in each other. More Souls involved means stronger, more robust Souls.

There are many behaviors associated with Bonded Companionships and Pairs. Body pressing and other such forms of close, physical contact are generally used in soothing and a way to set both at ease, as the behavior hearkens back to how aircraft will creche together in piles as babies with their littermates. Such intimate contact makes it easier for the Souls to link with each other and communicate, wherein their hosts will often go into a trance-like state. This seemingly ritualistic behavior brings about feelings of peace and contentment, and is a common sight, especially among aircraft in well-established Companionships or are in/in the process of becoming a Bonded Pair, as it also reaffirms their bond. Other forms of behaviors denoting affection are cheek rubs and nuzzles. Cheek-to-cheek while facing opposite directions or a kiss near the corner of the mouth are gestures of straightforward affection. Prolonged nose-to-nose contact is generally regarded overall as a sign of acknowledgment (I recognize who you are; I recognize your authority; I recognize your attention etc). None of these behaviors are things that are spontaneously done, these are supposed to be very deliberate acts; very calm, quiet, and there isn’t a whole lot of movement involved as their Souls just lean on each other while the aircraft take comfort in one anothers presence.

There are a few differences between Bonded Companionships and Bonded Pairs. The main being the amount and type of Soul involvement, and that Bonded Pairs are of course the more overtly sexual of the two, although you will see some sexual activity among Bonded Companions, but it's very rare and usually under extenuating circumstances or conditions. When a permanent link is established in a Bonded Companionship, those individuals are bonded from that point on, and the relationship is further developed from there. Pair Bonding is the opposite, where the development happens first, and is a much longer and much more involved process, all leading up to the Nuptial Flight, where, once completed, the Pairs' bond become solidified.

You see, aircraft can like each other plenty and engage in what we would call “friends-with-benefits”-type dynamics all the time, but there needs to be both personality/aesthetics AND Soul compatibility for it to really turn into something more. Any sort of close, physical contact will usually bring points of overlap (the junctions in the Soul's flow pattern where it crosses over itself) in their Souls’ flow patterns near enough to each other for them to communicate, however it's the act of ground mating that they'll get the most out of it, and while Souls don't speak with words, the sentiment might be translated to, “Oh, hello. Gee, our hosts sure are close together (or in the case of sex happening, “Whoa, something’s really going on here!”), okay then, so what are you all about?”

For the most part, the two parties are quite unaware that this communication is even taking place in any case. If enough points of overlap line up when the aircraft come into contact with one another, it’s a clear indication that those two Souls are compatible with each other, and while it may take a few more encounters, the aircraft will eventually feel a sudden sort of snap or shift in themselves, and something deep inside will “click” with the distinct feeling of “This is it.”

From that point on, the Bonding process has started, and it cannot be stopped. At best if can be delayed for a while if one or both parties feel that the time isn’t right, but sooner or later, it is going to happen. Despite it's obvious importance, Bonding is not something that aircraft in general give much thought to, (except for Dusty; he wonders about it from time to time) as they figure that there is someone for everyone, and that special someone is out there somewhere. It's only a matter of time, and so they are allowed to relax and focus on other priorities. And it really is an experience that they never really fully understand until they actually go through it. All pairs will react differently to the Bonding process. Some are cautious and testing when they first start out, while others will be pretty easy-going and unfazed about it. Sometimes you’ll get a pair that’s in denial and put it off forever while they try (and fail) to ignore each other, but then by contrast you also have the ones that jump right into it!

Pair Bonding is very private and is seen as a sacred thing and held in very high regard, as two "halves" have found each other and now become “whole”. When two aircraft Bond as a Pair, their Souls cease being two individual Souls and become one new, unified Soul based around the gradual merging and restructuring of those individual’s Souls during the Bonding process. A piece of this new Soul resides in each partner in a Pair, meaning that all that the original Souls were is still present within those individuals, but it is neither of the original Souls anymore, it is their sum. The new Soul is much stronger than that of either of its contributors and the Bonded Pair will now posses an overarching understanding of each other, although it must be noted that that doesn’t mean that they will be able to recall or interpret that understanding by specific memories from the other party. Now, unlike Bonded Companionships, who can turn their links on and off at will, in Bonded Pairs, by the nature of sharing a Soul, the link is constantly open, and while Bonded Pairs can be away from each other, the longer and farther they are apart, their longing can quickly turn into what looks like physical illness. That being said, Bonded Companions can also feel their share of heartache if away from their Companions for too long, the symptoms being very much akin to withdrawals even for deeper Companionships.

There is, of course, a major downside to Pair Bonding, however. We’ve all heard the rather pessimistic viewpoint that love makes you weak, and, naturally, if an aircraft dies for whatever reason during or after the Bonding process is complete, because their Souls are in various stages of merging into one, there are often horrible repercussions for the one left behind. If one of a Pair dies early enough in the Bonding process, it’s entirely possible for the remaining aircraft to eventually move on and Bond with another. However, if it happens in the middle of or later in the process, the Soul of the aircraft left behind may undergo severe and even permanent damage. Survival may still be possible, but more often than not you’re left with an aircraft who’s Soul is scarred and deformed and potentially unstable, crippling the individual socially and/or physically for the rest of its life.

Now, if one of a Pair were to die after the Bonding process has been completed, seeing as how they’re essentially sharing a Soul, death is certain for the remaining partner. The results are not pretty. The Soul pretty much gets ripped in half. They essentially die of a broken heart. This of course is not the case in Bonded Companionships. If one in a Bonded Companionship dies, the other lives on, but if you really think about it, it can be difficult to tell who really is worse off in each case. Though most may move on and find another Bonded Companion, some left behind after a Companion dies will live with that sorrow for the rest of their lives. Aircraft love more simply, purely, and deeply than any human being will probably ever experience, even in their more platonic relationships, and it is possible for the Soul to become very weak or even damaged upon the death of a Companion.


End file.
